Nissan invests �100m in Juke production at Sunderland

Nissan will invest £100m in its Sunderland, UK, factory to boost production of its next-generation Juke vehicles.

The move, which Nissan described as an attempt to maintain its positions as the "undisputed leader" in the so-called crossover vehicle market, will secure thousands of jobs.

"With the next-generation Juke now confirmed for future production, customers can be assured that Nissan is going to remain the benchmark in the crossover segment for many years to come,” said Paul Willcox, Nissan Europe Chairman.

He further added that the investment will secure the future of the Sunderland plant beyond 2020, including the jobs of 34,000 people working either directly for Nissan or its suppliers in the UK.

The factory, which currently directly employs 6,700 workers, produces the Qashqai, Note and Juke models, as well as the Leaf electric car.

The new model will be developed by Nissan's European design team in Paddington, London, and European Engineering Headquarters in Cranfield, Bedfordshire.

The Juke, Nissan’s second best-selling model, helped Sunderland to achieve 500,000 volumes in each of the past three years, with 80 per cent of output exported to over 130 markets.

The next-generation Juke is the first model to be confirmed for the Renault-Nissan Alliance CMF-B architecture. Common Module Family (CMF) is an engineering architecture that drives synergies in all major areas, from purchasing to vehicle engineering and powertrains.